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To: wagglebee; WileyPink; Salvation; NYer; xzins; P-Marlowe; Dr. Eckleburg; Pyro7480; ...
the catholic church is of Satan and the pope is the antichrist.

I do not believe that the RCatholic Church is of Satan and that the Pope is the antichrist.

I never have, and I consider it a poor reading of scripture to come to such a conclusion.

Mystery Babylon will find power in Rome, but it will be a new, Occultic, Post-Christian pagan perversion of the Bride of Christ.

The anti-Christ will be an individual and not an office.

40 posted on 02/19/2008 2:53:20 PM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain -- Those denying the War was Necessary Do NOT Support the Troops!)
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To: xzins; WileyPink; alpha-8-25-02; wmfights; HarleyD; Forest Keeper; irishtenor; blue-duncan; ...
I do not believe that the RCatholic Church is of Satan and that the Pope is the antichrist. I never have, and I consider it a poor reading of scripture to come to such a conclusion. Mystery Babylon will find power in Rome, but it will be a new, Occultic, Post-Christian pagan perversion of the Bride of Christ. The anti-Christ will be an individual and not an office.

There's more than one anti-Christ. According to John, the spirit of antichrist was already on earth and had taken multiple forms.

"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." -- 1 John 4:3


"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." -- 2 John 1:7

I think Calvin had a good take on those who would deceive and deny the power and authority of the Holy Spirit...

"The name Antichrist does not designate a single individual, but a single kingdom, which extends throughout many generations." -- John Calvin, II Thess. 403-404

From...

THE NECESSITY OF REFORMEING THE CHURCH
Part 4

"...The Roman pontiff is now opposing himself to the reviving doctrines of the gospel, just as if his head were at stake. Does he not, by this very fact, demonstrate that there will be no safety for his see unless he can put to flight the kingdom of Christ? Your imperial majesty is aware how wide a field of discussion here opens upon me. But to conclude this point in a few words: I deny that see to be apostolical, wherein nought is seen but a shocking apostasy; I deny him to be the vicar of Christ, who, in furiously persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist; I deny him to be the successor of Peter, who is doing his utmost to demolish every edifice that Peter built; and I deny him to be the head of the church, who by his tyranny lacerates and dismembers the church, after dissevering her from Christ, her true and only Head. Let these denials be answered by those who are so bent on chaining the hierarchy of the church to the Romish see, that they hesitate not to subordinate the sure and tried doctrines of the gospel to the authority of the pope..."

51 posted on 02/19/2008 4:05:52 PM PST by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: xzins
The anti-Christ will be an individual and not an office.

Some of the church fathers believed that the Antichrist would would not only be a specific individual, but would be a literal false Messiah. And not just a Messianic claimant who would fool a few, but a real counterfeit Christ who would have many followers. And they meant literal false Messiah-ship which would include all of the hallmarks: being of Jewish birth, claiming descent from the Davidic line, etc.

I tend more toward the idea that there are many antiChrists and always have been, and the hallmark of antiChrist is that people put their faith in him rather than in God.

Like, for example, people swoon and faint when he speaks, and he says things that are content-free, nebulous promises of "change" and such like, and he's born up on a swelling tide of media promotion ... but I digress. ;-)

58 posted on 02/19/2008 4:31:45 PM PST by Campion
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To: xzins

Thanks, FRiend. We have has our disagreements, but on this we are united.


82 posted on 02/19/2008 5:47:01 PM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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